Food for thought

Tuesday evening I was at my parent's house, spending some time with my Godfather and Aunt before they went back to New Jersey, post vacation. As always, with my Padrino, we usually end up talking about Cuba and he said something to me so incredibly simple yet so lucid that I couldnt believe I hadnt heard anyone mention it before.

"If there's one thing fifty years of fidel castro's rule has proven to me about Cuba," he said. "Is how incredibly rich Cuba is."

"Rich?" I asked.

"Si," he responded. "Rich and fertile. Despite fifty years of ridiculous agricultural practices and "absurd agrarian reforms" that, were they to have been implemented on any other country they would have brought about massive starvation, in Cuba you dont hear of people starving like that."

Cubans may not have the luxury of steak dinners or being able to swing by a local supermarket on the way home to buy a gallon of milk, and yes, everything is rationed and they do spend a good part of their lives in the quest for food, but they arent starving. And that isnt due to the magnanimity of the revolution, but to the fact that if you spit a seed out in Cuba, something will grow.

Malanga, calabaza, boniato, yuca...you name the vegetable or fruit, and it will and does grow in Cuba.

"fidel castro hasnt kept the Cuban people from massive starvation," he said. "Cuba has."

Posted by Val Prieto at August 15, 2008 07:59 AM

Comments

Posted by: roland at August 15, 2008 09:24 AM